The present invention relates to a method of controlling filbertworm by mating disruption in which a sex pheromone component of the filbertworm is released in a field to disturb the mating behavior of the insect pest with the sex pheromone component.
Insect pest control by mating disruption is carried out by releasing and floating in an air an artificially synthesized sex pheromone component of an insect pest to be controlled for disturbing mating between males and females of the insect pest to decrease their mating rate, and to suppress the birth of next generation. The sex pheromone component differs depending on the kind of insect pest and further, it is species-specific. A natural sex pheromone composition of an insect pest is therefore identified by a direct method in which the natural sex pheromone composition is extracted from a pheromone gland of the insect pest with a solvent; an indirect method such as pheromone lure or EAG (electroantennogram); or a method of combination of the direct and indirect methods. Consequently, the components and composition ratio thereof are predetermined. For most of the mating disruption, components and composition ratio same as those of a natural sex pheromone composition of an insect pest to be controlled are conventionally used. However, since the natural sex pheromone composition of an insect pest is often a mixture of a plurality of sex pheromone components, there are cases where the components completely same as those of the natural sex pheromone composition of an insect pest cannot be used for mating disruption. In such cases, at least a main component having a highest composition ratio in the natural sex pheromone composition is used.
It is known that the natural sex pheromone composition of filbertworm (Melissopus latiferreanus), which is an insect pest in hazelnuts, is a 4.3:1 mixture of E,Z-8,10-dodecadienyl acetate and E,E-8,10-dodecadienyl acetate, where the former is a main component and the latter is a subsidiary component having a composition ratio lower than that of the main component (H. G. Davis, J. Chem. Ecol., January 1984, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp 53-61).